Alleged Eaton Fire Looters Due Back in Pasadena Court 16 Months After Wildfire

Sixteen months after the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, two people accused of burglarizing evacuated homes while the wildfire raged are scheduled to appear in a Pasadena courtroom Monday morning.

Lucia Jilrara Perez, 37, and Rudy Salazar, 20, each face two counts of first-degree residential burglary in case 25PDCF00020, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. A hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. in Department B at Pasadena Courthouse, 300 E. Walnut St. Judge Rita L. Badhan has presided over prior hearings in the case. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. The charges are allegations, and both are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Prosecutors allege the pair entered two homes in Altadena on January 8, 2025, at approximately 2:30 p.m. — while mandatory evacuation orders were in effect — and took property. They were apprehended while allegedly attempting to enter a third residence, the district attorney’s office said.

The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The Eaton Fire had ignited the prior evening in Eaton Canyon and would go on to burn 14,021 acres, destroy 9,414 structures and kill at least 17 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Department.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced charges against Perez and Salazar on January 13, 2025, as part of a broader crackdown on crimes committed during the wildfires, according to a district attorney’s office press release. The pair were among nine individuals charged with felony residential burglary for looting incidents in Altadena and Pacific Palisades during the fires, according to the press release. By January 24, 2025, the district attorney’s office had filed wildfire-related charges against 25 individuals, including cases involving looting and arson across the fire zones, according to a separate press release from the office.

The pair were arraigned on January 10, 2025, at the Pasadena Courthouse. The case has moved through multiple pretrial hearings since then, including a bench warrant hearing in April 2026. Residential burglaries in Altadena surged 450 percent in the months following the fire compared with the same period in 2024, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department data reported by Pasadena Now.

First-degree residential burglary is always a felony in California. Each count carries a potential sentence of two, four, or six years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000. A conviction counts as a strike under California’s Three Strikes Law, according to California Penal Code sections 459 and 460.